HI

The ferry can take ages, when I took it the 'fast ferry' was out of service, I am not even sure it exists. The scheduled departure from Nuweiba was 1pm, but it didnt leave until around 5pm and arrived in Aqaba at midnight.

I dont know the timings from Aqaba but I would take the earliest ferry you can get (anything past 10pm) and hope to land in Egypt in the early morning, or at least daylight hours. You can then get a bus to Dahab and stay the night (there are some places in Nuweiba, but way more Dahab). You can then get the early bus to Cairo, which takes about six to eight hours.

I am sure you could do a whole run without a layover, but its a long haul and if you arrive in Jordan in the middle of the night or early morning, make sure you have somewhere to sleep that you can tell a taxi driver. Its so hard to judge the ferry, having a departure time that sounds on paper like it will arrive in good time at the other end can easily leave you stuck at 3am! Just give it plenty of time!

sorry, if you arrive in EGYPT in the middle of the night make sure you have somewhere in mind to stay....

There's a new fast ferry these days, called Babel. It is run by Meenagate and used to go between Taba and Aqaba (but now the marina in Taba is closed...) You can book by mailing or calling them in their office in Aqaba.
The ferry departs every day at 6pm from Aqaba and takes roughly an hour. I don't know if there are overnight buses to Cairo, but you can easily spend the night in Nuweiba and leave for the big smoke the next day; no need to travel to Dahab. Get in touch with one of the camps in either Nuweiba City or Tarabin, so you'll be close to the East Delta bus stops.
Good luck.
Ali

Alas, the Aqaba-Nuweibeh night ferry caught fire and sank (http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=43050) back in November, and is, therefore, not available. There are still two day ferries. Suggest you "google" Arab Bridge Maritime for the schedules, fees and other information.

Overland option? via Eilat, Israel - buses available straight from Taba, Egypt to Cairo taking around 5/6 hours.

tks.. for the info guys.. another thing do we need to apply for a visa at egypt embassy at jordan or we can get it done at Nuweiba.. Visa on arrival... tq

im not sure if someone else can offer any further insight on this, but coming overland through Israel, does this give you a full Egyptian visa? I met a dutch chap who's visa from the land border was only 'officially' a local area visa and he had to go to Cairo to 'top it up' to a full tourist one (I dont think he bothered in the end but I have no idea what happened to him)

If it is anything like arrival in Aqaba, someone will collect the passports on the boat and then when you dock they will be waiting for you to collect on the way out the boat with a visa in them. On the passage to Jordan the announcements for this were done in Arabic and so I missed the whole process and had to get everything done on arrival at the immigration desk which was a bit of a pain, but not too hectic.

Bad news on the boat, thats the third one i've sailed on that has sank shortly after... I think I'll stick to planes for a bit!

According to the German guy I spoke to last week, it is not possible to get a full visa at the Israeli/Egyptian border. You have to apply at the Egyptian consulate in Eilat.

If you have a 'Sinai-visa', a 14 day permit to stay in Sinai, you cannot travel to Cairo to top it up. You cannot leave the eastern part of South Sinai (Sharm, Dahab, Nuweiba, Taba and St. Catherine) with a 14-day permit.

And yes, you can get a visa on arrival in Nuweiba.

I tried for four days at the Egyptian embassy in Amman to get my visa last year and they were always demanding, "Come back with this other piece of paper". I knew I could get the visa on board the ferry or on arrival, but we had time to spare in Aqaba, so I went to the consulate there and had the visa in 15 minutes, thanks to the oh-so efficient Um Mohammad. She had the paperwork processed, the consul down to the office and everything signed and stamped in 15 minutes... while entertained her with my hassles in trying to use the Egyptian embassy in Amman.